James Alfred Hale (10 July 1916 - 28 December 1992) was an Australian

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

footballer who played in the 1940s.

Career

Hale was graded with the South Sydney club in 1940 and switched mid-season to join

St. George Saint George (;Geʽez: ጊዮርጊስ, , ka, გიორგი, , , died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was an early Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to holy tradition, he was a soldier in the ...

with whom he played seven seasons between 1941 and 1947. He is remembered as the second-row forward in the St George side that was defeated in the 1946 Grand Final by Balmain. At the end of the game, Jim Hale and his ex team-mate Herb Gilbert, Jr. were involved in a brawl when a spectator jumped onto the

Sydney Cricket Ground The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) is a sports stadium in the Moore Park, New South Wales, Moore Park suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is used for Test cricket, Test, One Day International and Twenty20 cricket, as well as, Australi ...

playing area and punched Hale. The incident almost caused a riot amongst rival players and fans and resulted in a number of arrests by police. Hale, like his father Percy (1887-1953), was an amateur heavy-weight boxer, and the brawl between him and Gilbert was a huge talking point in the Sydney press for days afterward. A brother,

Bill Hale Bill Hale (1915–2007) was an Australian rugby league footballer who played in the 1930s and 1940s. Hale was a big front row forward who played at St. George with his younger brother Jim Hale. His career was interrupted when he was moved aro ...

also played for

After retiring from Sydney first grade football, Hale captain coached the Boorowa Rovers Rugby League Club in 1948–1949.

Death

Hale died on 28 December 1992, aged 76.Sydney Morning Herald - Death Notice 29/12/1992

References

1916 births 1992 deaths Australian rugby league players Rugby league players from Sydney Rugby league second-rows South Sydney Rabbitohs players St. George Dragons players 20th-century Australian sportsmen {{Australia-rugbyleague-bio-1910s-stub